Exclusive: Don Goodman fires Des Buckingham, Cardiff City warning - It involves Vincent Tan | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman spoke exclusively to Football League World about Des Buckingham's potential appointment at Cardiff City

Cardiff City will be hoping to conclude their prolonged search for a permanent successor to Omer Riza this week, with Des Buckingham in serious contention to become Vincent Tan's latest managerial hire in the Welsh capital.

Remarkably, it has now spanned more than seven weeks since Riza was relieved of his duties with three matches to spare of the 2024/25 Championship campaign, which ultimately resulted in relegation for the Bluebirds as Aaron Ramsey found himself with too little time to inspire a turnaround in fortunes after taking over on a caretaker basis.

Inevitably, as is the natural course with relegation to League One, a significant rebuilding process awaits this summer, for which Cardiff must prepare to undertake in earnest.

However, their protracted hunt for a new manager ahead of the club's first third-tier season in more than 20 years is still rumbling on and continues to offer a real source of frustration to supporters, who have grown increasingly disgruntled with controversial owner Vincent Tan, along with Mehmet Dalman [chairman] and Ken Choo [chief executive] in recent times.

A number of names have been under contention to take over. Last month, Football League World exclusively revealed that both Buckingham and former Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt were set to be interviewed for the role, while Brian Barry-Murphy has also been linked and Cardiff fell short in a punchy and well-publicised pursuit of Nathan Jones, who, despite his boyhood allegiances to the club, ultimately decided to put pen to paper on a fresh five-year contract with Charlton Athletic after taking them back to the Championship via the League One play-offs.

Ramsey, meanwhile, had also been a serious contender to take the job full-time, and reports last week suggested that the Welsh international captain was indeed the front-runner.

However, Ramsey is now set to complete a shock move to Mexican top-flight outfit Pumas UNAM ahead of the expiration of his playing contract with Cardiff later this month.

But Buckingham, who has also risen to the top of the bookmaker's odds following news of Ramsey's impending switch across the Atlantic, is believed to remain in the mix and is certainly one to watch this week as Cardiff bid to finally install a new manager in the dugout.

Don Goodman issues Des Buckingham warning involving Vincent Tan, Cardiff City sack factor

The appointment of Buckingham would be a popular one among the majority of supporters.

Buckingham, of course, led Oxford to promotion from League One just last year and is known for deploying an attacking possession-based style of play, while his experience working in the City Group conglomerate represents the kind of progressive and modern head coach that could bring rare long-term managerial stability to the Bluebirds.

Cardiff's managerial turnover is well-documented, and Buckingham could become the club's eighth permanent appointment since the start of 2021. Tan is known to be rather trigger-happy and unafraid to take action when results go awry, though, and Buckingham has been warned about exactly that by Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman.

Although Goodman believes that Buckingham's promotion-winning experience at this level would make him a "reasonably-wise" appointment for the club, he has stated how Tan's managerial turnover and propensity for sackings will mean the job may come with a "little bit of a warning sign".

If appointed, Goodman has argued that the 40-year-old would have to enjoy a strong start to next season, otherwise Tan could be preparing to take action rather swiftly.

"I think Des Buckingham appears to be the favourite for the Cardiff City job," Goodman explained when speaking exclusively to FLW.

"With Aaron Ramsey heading to Mexico, it almost gives Buckingham a free run at it.

"I do think he would be a reasonably-wise appointment given his pedigree at League One level with Oxford, getting them promoted back into the Championship.

"But obviously from his perspective, it will come with a little bit of a warning sign in terms of it having to go well, or he'll be out very, very quickly. A good start would have to be the order of the day under that ownership, given they have got absolutely no problem in sacking managers."

There is going to be significant expectation at Cardiff City in League One

The Cardiff job is known for being accompanied with significant pressure and expectation both internally and externally.

Cardiff's key decision-makers will doubtless demand promotion at the first attempt from whoever comes in as Riza's successor, be it Buckingham or another candidate, while the standing and stature of Wales' capital club, who were competing in the Premier League just six years ago, brings with it a natural weight of pressure, too.

Fans, at this stage, are realistic enough to know that so much change has to be undertaken behind the scenes in order to make promotion a firm possibility, though Buckingham's credentials in the third-tier could make him the best remaining option to try and fulfill that ambition at the very first time of asking.